1
as in to frown
to take on a gloomy or forbidding look
his face slowly darkened as we told him the sad news
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
3
as in to obscure
to make dark, dim, or indistinct
years of accumulated grime have darkened the painting until it can barely be seen
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in to mar
to affect slightly with something morally bad or undesirable
the scandal darkened his otherwise sterling reputation
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of darken
There’s also electrochromic film to darken the shades, and full customization with nose pieces, diopter dials, and adjustable temples with lighting effects.
—
Julian Chokkattu, Wired News, 19 July 2025
Sánchez’s eyebrows are always darkened to match her hair (like de Ramon), and her cheeks are usually contoured and bronzed, putting her bone structure on full display.
—Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 26 June 2025
The glasses feature a 12MP stabilized camera, five mics, dual speakers, and electrochromic lenses that darken on demand.
—Charlie Fink, Forbes.com, 27 June 2025
But just as Covid restrictions were lifted, and people began again to mingle again in public, the general social atmosphere seemed to darken.
—Thomas Cangelosi, Hartford Courant, 27 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for darken
Julian Chokkattu, Wired News, 19 July 2025
Sánchez’s eyebrows are always darkened to match her hair (like de Ramon), and her cheeks are usually contoured and bronzed, putting her bone structure on full display.
—Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 26 June 2025
The glasses feature a 12MP stabilized camera, five mics, dual speakers, and electrochromic lenses that darken on demand.
—Charlie Fink, Forbes.com, 27 June 2025
But just as Covid restrictions were lifted, and people began again to mingle again in public, the general social atmosphere seemed to darken.
—Thomas Cangelosi, Hartford Courant, 27 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for darken
Recent Examples of Synonyms for darken
Verb
-
All the while, McNeeley was never caught frowning, crying.—
Dom Amore,
Hartford Courant,
26 June 2025
-
With a portrait of Queen Victoria watching over him, a 75-year-old man frowned at a pint of something unfamiliar.—
Tania Ganguli,
New York Times,
29 May 2025
Verb
-
Just after the clock struck midnight as Thursday night faded into Friday morning, the Texas House morphed into something of a graveyard.—
John C. Moritz,
Austin American Statesman,
30 July 2025
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As teams like the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians have faded, the Rangers have surged.—
Sam Blum,
New York Times,
29 July 2025
Verb
-
By the time of totality at 3:20 p.m., dense clouds obscured the view, with an eerie darkness and a golden horizon.—
Jamie Carter,
Forbes.com,
23 July 2025
-
He was either shrouded in haze (the gasps of the fog machine eventually became indistinguishable from the vapor being collectively exhaled by the crowd) or obscured by low-angle backlighting.—
Amanda Petrusich,
New Yorker,
21 July 2025
Verb
-
During questioning at the Austin Police Department, Mejia marred her credibility and inadvertently presented herself as a compulsive liar by initially telling police different stories about how Casiano was burned.—
Bianca Moreno-Paz,
Austin American Statesman,
30 July 2025
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Processing The Hulkster’s legacy in real-time is tough — not just because of his greatness, but because of the blemishes that marred his career inside and outside the ring.—
Carl Lamarre,
Billboard,
24 July 2025
Verb
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That meant the audience stared, entranced, at a stage filled with string musicians and an upright bass player, with drummer Brian Chase in the back and guitarist Nick Zinner mostly playing acoustic instruments.—
Julyssa Lopez,
Rolling Stone,
30 July 2025
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Bryan stopped singing the chorus for a second and stared into the crowd before carrying on with the 2011 song, handling the slight interruption like a pro. Fans responded to the incident online.—
Marina Watts,
People.com,
30 July 2025
Verb
-
Leaves and buds that are bitten by frost will blacken and shrivel, sometimes all over the plant.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
23 July 2025
-
Let skins blister and blacken, while turning peppers with tongs, until they’re evenly blackened, about 5 minutes.—
The New York Times News Service Syndicate,
Denver Post,
22 July 2025
Verb
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Tweaked as recently as 1992, the house deliberately blurs boundaries between interior and exterior, public and private, finished and unfinished.—
David Hochman,
Forbes.com,
26 July 2025
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AirPods blur the line between presence and absence, reducing opportunities for mindfulness.—
MSNBC Newsweek,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 July 2025
Verb
-
Dodge won't spoil the surprise by confirming if the last one will be based on the Charger or the Challenger (or maybe both), but the evidence suggests the latter is more likely.—
Jack Fitzgerald,
Car and Driver,
13 Feb. 2023
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Farmers’ broiler chickens suffocate, and dairy products spoil.—
Monica Mark,
The Christian Science Monitor,
10 Feb. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Darken.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/darken. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
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